Flower's Tear
by Yusagi
Summary: Seph watches Aeris in her last days...sortarnMild SephAeris also CloudAeris


Disclaimer: I don't own SquareEnix

AN: The partner story to My Final Entry....slightly one sided Seph/Aer and Cloud/Aeris

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**_ Flower's Tear_**

" I want....to know you..." She whispered, looking up at him.

For a moment, there was silence, as they inched closer together, then, abruptly, the car halted, and shook violently, sending the man flying into her arms, pinning her to the wall.

I couldn't stop laughing....it was hilarious the looks on their faces!!!!

But then I noticed something....that idiot puppet....he didn't _care_....he was _still_ trying to romance her out of her dress....and succeeding.

To this moment, I'm not sure why....but the image of the two lovers intertwined stung me somehow, and I lashed out blindly, causing pain to explode in the puppet's chest, ending all his romantic ideas.....or so I thought.

The love she held for him, it shocked me....the touch I felt through my connection with the puppet cut into me, valiantly trying to burn away the barriers I had placed around my mind and heart.

In a panic, I ran....I ran far, far away......I wanted to hide from the mocking voice of my mother, to hide from the inviting touch of the Cetra flower girl....and most importantly, to hide from the infectious warmth and love that the puppet held for the girl.

_ If you kill her...this would all end._

My mother's wordsd came as a shock somehow...it was true that she wanted to kill everyone in the way, and in particular, she hated the girl.

But somehow....the thought of killing the flower girl had never entered my mind before....the thought was simultaniously tantalizing and horrorfying.

I shook my head dismissively.....such a thing was unnessisary....

But now....here I am, her guardian angel, and the wraith that stalks her in the night....she doesn't even realise how many times death has grazed by her.....if I had but let the dragon have her, all this would be over with.....but I couldn't...

Now she sits shivering, curled up in a ball, weeping because she knows how this adventure must end, just as I know...it is a fate neither of us desire....

Maybe this can yet be avoided....she will surely freeze to death in this cold, with out heat....

Carefully, I land infront of her shivering form, and drape my cloak about her, she looks up, surprise and fear mingling in her eyes....

" This doesn't have to be...."

Tears shimmer in her eyes as she shakes her head...she is resigned to her fate, convinced that there is no other way....

" Why do you insist on this....I do not....wish your death....go back to your beloved..."

She smiles softly, and replies, " Why do _you_ insist on doing this? We are but pawns to fate.....our destiny decided before birth...."

What she said rang true...we could not change what would happen, neither of us are willing to change what we feel we must do...and that can only lead to one end.

" I do not wish this!" I insist, like a spoiled child I insist, unaware of the tears shimmering in my own eyes, threatening to ruin my cold and unfeeling image.

She smiled again, and wipes away the offending tears that have slipped from my iron grip.

" I would not wish this on _you_...." She whispers, and then her soft lips touch mine for a brief instant, and my eyes open to all that could have been between us...her marble skin was so inviting, her ruby lips and emerald eyes enchanting, I reach over and claim her lips as my own, and she returns my gesture in full.

As I hold her against myself, I whisper in her ear, " I will keep you warm...."

She melts into my arms, holding me tighter even than I hold her, but then she whispers softly in my ear, " I can't..."

She pulls away gently, shaking her head, trying to mask her tears, and finally it registers in my mind.

She must be unspoiled, she nots not that she _will_ die, but that she _must_....for the salvation she so craves for her beloved....all I need do is steal that away, and her mission wouls end.

But like the dragon before....I cannot.

" I'm sorry..." she whispers, standing up, and returning my cloak to me.

" Stay with me..." I beg, lifting a pleading hand, " Just tonight...I would give you warmth...and..."

How can I say this?....How can I explain that I crave her presence, even her love?....The brief moment we shared when she kissed me, the memories of what could have been, they haunt me, like a spector looming over my soul....I want to hold her in my arms, to banish this fear....if only for a night, to pretend that heaven's perfec angel is mine to have....and to hold....

She smiles again, and sits down next to me, situating herself in my arms, resting her head on my chest.

" I want to be warm..." She whispers, holding me tightly, and sobbing softly.

It is then that I see her for all she truly is....she is a flower but so much more.....her skin and hair as soft and smooth as a petal...her frame so delicate and fragile, that it seems even a breeze may break or mar her features.....her voice like heaven's choir, but her life's breathe a mere moment.

She is more than a jewel of beauty, more precious than a budding rose in winter.....

I hold her tighter, rocking her softly, whispering meaningless words of comfort in her ear.

" Tell him.....that I loved him..."

Somehow, her statement hurts me....it cuts deep through icy walls to a weak and battered heart....and I cry.

I have never cried before.....not once.....but now the tears won't end, I don't want this to end.....it hurts more than anything.

And then I realise.....I realise what I have feared since youth.....I love.

" I.....love....you...." I whisper, knowing now that it was in jealousy and spite that I had lashed out, ruining her last chance to bo with her beloved...

She reaches up, and touches my cheek, " I know..."

No more words are spoken, in silence we pretend that we could love and be loved....tomorrow I will kill her, tommorrow I will be alone again....because of me, this rare treasure will fade from this earth....but tonight.....she is mine.

And I....I am hers.

As my eyes begin to slide closed, and my breathing begins to match hers, I decide finally what she must be....

She was not a flower....no...a flower was far too mundane for such a unique creation....she was a flower's tear.

_The End_

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AN: This was _extremely_ difficult for me, being as I _rarely_ do 1st person.....but I hope that it gets the feeling across better than 3rd person would. BTW in case your scratching your head, a flower's tear is the morning dew on a petal....very short lived as you know, and magnificent to behold......okay....kind of cheap...>. 

Partner Story(created on the same night of musing):

My Final Entry ( Aeris' last diary entry)

Yusagi Sombermoon


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